Airplane Passenger Shamed After Photo Of Dumping Trash On Flight Goes Viral

An airline passenger is being shamed on the internet Wednesday after a photo appeared to depict a pile of trash in the middle of the aisle beside his seat. The post was shared on Reddit's "Trashy" forum and an Instagram account dedicated to passenger shaming. The airline and passenger remain unidentified at this time.

The aisle is used by flight attendants throughout the duration of the trip to tend to customers' needs, including food and drink orders. Flight attendants also collect trash for customers, if asked to do so. Blocking the aisles of a plane can prove to be a safety hazard for flight attendants, but also for fellow passengers that need to get up to use the bathroom.

"Man dumps his food into aisle after eating what he wanted," the Reddit forum read. The picture partially features the unidentified customer reading a book as a large assortment of trash lays on the floor nearby.

Reddit users were unimpressed with the airline passenger. Several users equated his actions to that of a "pet" or an "animal," but many others echoed that the customer's "rude" behavior was "literally trashy."

"And here I thought animals had to ride with the cargo," one user wrote on Reddit.

Another user commented, "How could he possibly get away with doing that…?"

Instagram commenters weren't amused either. While many echoed one Reddit user's thoughts on the passenger's animal-like behavior, some resorted to calling him a "pig." Several Instagram users also questioned how the customer was raised.

"Obstructing the aisle is a safety violation," one commenter wrote on Instagram. "He should be told to clean his mess immediately or expect to be met by security when he gets off the plane."

"I would hate to see what his home looks like," one user commented.

"This is like something a toddler would do lol," another Instagram user wrote. "I would've picked it all up and dumped it in his lap."

One Reddit user who alleged to be a flight attendant claimed that the passenger may not be at fault, saying: "Flight attendant here. Can't say for sure if this photo is the passenger's fault but I've seen passengers do this and it's infuriating," the person wrote."

The airline passenger's actions aren't uncommon. Flight attendants are responsible maintaining order during the flight, which sometimes includes taking care of the passengers' trash.

"It is a health issue to hand trash to a flight attendant who is serving food or drinks. They don't want to touch your dirty trash and then touch a clean cup and serve it to someone else," Abbie Unger, founder of Flight Attendant Career Connection, told the New York Post in 2014. "It's very frustrating to crawl around on the floor to collect trash from adults that just didn't want to hand it to the flight attendant."